Advanced technology changes the way we work and the skills we need, but it also boosts productivity and creates new jobs.
It is urgent to shift from a traditional, authoritative, rote educational approach to a project-based and experiential approach. Specific hard skills are fundamental, but is even more important that students 'learn how to learn' and focus on crucial soft skills such as flexibility and the ability to adapt to change.
Given the rapid rate of change, the old paradigm of one-off education followed by a career will no longer work: life-long learning is a must, and it is up to governments and employers to invest in training and for employees to commit to constantly update their skill set.
As digitalisation and the ageing population trends advance, international mobility and the development of employable skills are crucial to balance demographic gaps and surpluses as well as the deficit of skills across the world.
Trends such as skills imbalances, the gig economy, and digitization are transforming work so quickly that policy creation is lagging behind.
To stay attractive and competitive, the U.K. should take measures to ensure that skilled talent keeps flowing in and out the country.
While labour market reports scream with dramatic youth unemployment data, hundreds of employers cry out for employees with the right skills sets. As recruiters, we suffer this shortage every day.
Countries which favour openness and the mobility of skilled talent secure the development of more diverse and culturally rich work environments, a higher level of innovation, as well as entrepreneurship and wider international networks.
I was more of a person that liked flying and operating high-performance machinery, and I liked that, the skill it took, the intelligence it took to do that.
To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation in the basics of education - literacy, both verbal and numerical, and communication skills.
